Archive By Section - Columns

Times have changed. Recently, when I heard of a young lady being robbed on the campus of the University of South Carolina, I was not surprised. Since the time was early morning -- about 1 or 2 a.m. -- and she was walking alone, she had certainly not used care. Then I had to laugh because I, in the '80s, attended night classes there. When I parked the car after driving from Camden, the location was far away and often along ill lit paths. When I parked, it was early afternoon; when I left after classes, night had fallen. I, however ...

If you happen to see me or anyone else from the paper today, you'll probably catch us grinning from ear to ear. A look at the front page can tell you why: for the second year in a row, the C-I is the best non-daily community newspaper in the state.

I was attending a coaching clinic in the mid 1970s, and I got to talk with a very well-respected and successful football coach who had won a number of championships during a long and storied career. I asked him about his favorite team, expecting him to tell me about one of the numerous state championship teams he had coached. I was surprised, however, when he told me about a team he had coached that had not even gone very far into the playoffs. The coach told me he loved and valued this particular team since it had achieved well beyond ...

I recently attended the National League of Cities conference. This annual event, attended by representatives from thousands of cities, provides local leaders with resources, contacts and continuing education. The League is focused on helping cities build stronger communities. Advocacy, job creation, economic growth, effective policy making, and feasible collaboration are only a few of the topics we explored for continuing and creating sustainable, vibrant communities.

Could millions of college dropouts get a second chance through a GED-style equivalent of a college diploma? In today's age of blue-collar blues and online education, the idea of college-equivalency exams doesn't sound so outlandish anymore.

Americans praise civility, but we constantly reward rudeness. That annoying fact of life helps to explain why the blessings that Rush Limbaugh brought to the Republican base recently turned into a curse.